Various techniques have been attempted for monitoring and characterizing vehicle engine wear. For example, vehicle engines may be routinely examined, maintained, and repaired according to predetermined maintenance schedules, when an operational problem is detected, and/or at various other points in time. It may also be useful to determine various measures of engine wear in between such maintenance schedules, such as during vehicle operation or shortly before or after. However, determining engine wear at such times may be difficult and/or costly, because the engine is installed on the vehicle, rather then sitting in a maintenance facility. It may also be useful to determine various performance characteristics of an engine based on a known measure of engine wear. However, this may also be difficult in certain situations, such as when the engine is disassembled or removed from the vehicle.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method for characterizing engine performance and wear, for example to (i) determine a measure of engine wear given known engine performance characteristics, for example between maintenance schedules when the engine is installed on the vehicle and/or otherwise ready for operation; and (ii) determine engine performance characteristics given a known measure of engine wear, for example when the engine is disassembled or removed from the vehicle.